
The John J. and Hanna M. McManus 
and Morris N. and Chesley V. Young 
Collection 


HINDU MAGIC 


AN EXPOSE OF THE TRICKS OF THE 
YOGIS AND FAKIRS OF INDIA 




BY 


HEREWARD CARRINGTON 

Author of “Handcuff Tricks,” “Side Show and Animal 
Tricks” “The Boys’ Book of Magic,” “The 
Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism,” 

Etc., Etc. 


ILLUSTRATED 


PUBLISHED BY THE SPHINX 
Kansas City, Missouri 


/D^ri 


TO 

SIDNEY LENZ 

(With Warmest Regards.) 


*** Collection — ^ 

Gift-Oct. 12, & WS" 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


Page 

The Mango Tree Trick 5 

The Basket Trick 19 

i 

The Dry Sands Trick 26 

The Coloured Sands Trick 27 

The Diving Duck 29 

The Jumping Egg 30 

The Beans and Scorpion Trick 32 

The Basket and Birds Trick 33 

The Ball of Cotton Trick 34 

The Brass Bowl Trick 37 

Snake Charming 38 

Voluntary Interment 41 

The Rope Trick 44 





HINDU MAGIC 


In this pamphlet I propose to consider the 
phenomena which are presented by the fakirs and 
yogis of India, and to inquire into their nature and 
the method of their production. 

The feats performed by Indian fakirs are 
numerous, but I shall describe those most com- 
monly witnessed : the mango-tree trick, the basket 
trick, the bowl of water trick, the dry sands trick, 
the rope and dismembered body test, levitation, 
snake charming, burial alive, etc. 

As so much is heard of Indian magic, and the 
powers of the Oriental performer, it may be well 
to examine their performances somewhat criti- 
cally, and to see how far we are entitled to as- 
sume that there is anything in them suggesting 
the supernormal, anything calling for explana- 
tions that necessitate the operation of laws “other 
than those known to Western science.” 

THE MANGO-TREE TRICK. 

I shall begin by describing the famous mango- 
tree trick — perhaps the best known of all the 
feats performed by the Indian conjuror. I shall 
first of all describe the performance as it would 
appear to the uninitiated witness, afterwards 
explaining the secret. 

As the trick is usually exhibited, it is some- 


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Hindu Magic 


what as follows: The native comes forward, 
almost nude, being covered only with a small loin 
cloth, of such small compass that the onlooker can 



see clearly that there is nothing hidden in or 
about it or the performer. As the trick (like 
almost all Indian tricks) is performed in any 
locality — on the deck of a ship, in one’s own room, 
etc. — all idea of pre-arrangement, trap-doors, etc., 
is precluded. The performer advances, carrying 
in his hands a little earthen or tin pot containing 
water, and another containing a quart or so of 
dry sand. He also has with him some seeds of 
the mango-tree, and a large cloth, about four feet 
square. This is shaken out and both sides are 
shown to the spectators, so that they may see that 
nothing is concealed within it. 

All this having been gone through, the fakir 
proceeds to build up a little mud pile of his earth 
and water, mixing the two together with his 
fingers, and dexterously moulding them into a 


Hindu Magic 


7 


pyramid of muddy earth. This may be done in 
some previously examined vessel, or on the bare 
earth or floor. The mango-seed is now inserted 
in the soil, and covered on all sides with earth. 
The fakir then covers the mound of earth with the 
shawl or large handkerchief, and places his hands 
and arms under the shawl, manipulating the seed 
and the earth for some time; placing his hands 
over the seed; making passes above the seed, etc. 
As his hands and arms are bare, and can be seen 
bare throughout this process of manipulation, 
and as his hands never once approach his body, no 
one has any objection to his handling the seed 
and the earth in this manner, or to his placing 
his hands beneath the cloth. After a few min- 
utes of this manipulation, the conjuror withdraws 
his hands, and proceeds to make passes over the 
cloth and above it, at the same time muttering 
semi-articulate incantations, etc. Sometimes a 
tom-tom is beaten, or other instrument is played 
upon, and, after a while, the conjuror removes the 
cloth, and the seed is seen to have sprouted — a 
couple of tiny leaves appearing above the surface 
of the earth. If the onlooker is especially skepti- 
cal, the fakir sometimes removes the seed, and 
shows the skeptic a couple of minute roots, sprout- 
ing from the lower end of it. It (the seed) is then 
replaced in the earth, the manipulations and in- 
cantations repeated, and, after a while, the fakir 
removes the cloth a second time, and the mango 
is seen to have sprouted still more — now being 


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Hindu Magic 


several inches in height. This process is repeated 
five or six times, or even more, at the end of 
which time the mango-tree is two feet or more in 
height. It is even asserted that, in some cases, 
the tree has been known to bear fruit. 

So much for the effect of the trick. Now for 
the explanation. 



There are numerous ways of performing this 
mango-tree trick — for trick it is. 

In the first place, it will be noticed that it is 
always a mango-tree that is made to grow, and 
no other shrub. Now, why is this? Surely it is 
not because the mango is the only tree in India 
which is ready to the hand of the fakir, for we 
know that there are numerous others that might 
be made to grow. And yet it is always the mango ! 
The conjuror, S. S. Baldwin (from whose book, 
Secrets of Mahatma Land Explained, I shall have 
occasion to quote later on), asked a native con- 
juror if he would make a young palm, a tea plant 


Hindu Magic 


9 


or a banana tree, grow for him, and received the 
response: “Nay, sahib, cannot do. Mango-tree 
the only one can make.” I repeat, why is this? 

The reason is that it is the peculiar construc- 
tion of the mango leaf that renders the trick, as 
presented, possible at all. The leaf and twigs 
of the mango-tree are exceedingly tough and 
pliable, almost like leather, and can be folded or 
compressed into a very small space without break- 
ing the stems and the leaves, and, when this 
pressure is released, the leaves will resume their 
former expanded condition very rapidly, without 
showing any traces of the folding process. The 
leaves can be turned upon themselves and rolled 
into a tight ball, in which folded condition they 
occupy very little space, and yet will resume their 
extended condition when this pressure is released. 
And this brings me to the heart of my explanation. 

The mango seed that is placed in the mound 
of earth is especially prepared before the per- 
formance, by the fakir, in the following manner : 
He splits the seed open, scoops out its contents, 
dries it somewhat, then places within it a shoot 
of a mango-tree folded and compressed so as to 
fit into the mango seed. It must be remembered 
that the mango seed is no small thing, but is about 
two inches long (sometimes more) by an inch to 
an inch and a half broad. It resembles slightly 
the mussel shell found on the seashore. It will be 
obvious that a seed of this size might contain a 


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Hindu Magic 


good deal of material, and if the mango leaves 
were folded into a small compass, would hold a 
good-sized twig. The leaves are folded very 
carefully, and are prepared in a special manner. 
The upper surface of the leaf must be folded on 
itself, and that surface, skillfully treated and 
watered, will scarcely show a crease on a superfi- 
cial examination. The creasing which the under 
surface would show is, of course, concealed from 
the spectator's view. 

When the fakir places his hands beneath the 
cloth the first time, then, he gets hold of the seed, 
and proceeds to manipulate it in such a manner as 
to extract from the upper end of the seed about 
an inch or so of the plant it contains. He may 
extract the seed altogether from the earth for that 
purpose, and replace it in the earth again at the 
conclusion of this manipulation, banking up the 
earth around the seed again before removing his 
hands. The fakir then removes both hands, and 
proceeds with the playing of his tom-tom, and 
whatever other mummeries he may see fit to 
perform, in order to impress his onlooker. After 
a while the cloth is removed, and the seed is found 
to have sprouted, and an inch or so of the stem 
and the first green leaves are seen to be sprouting 
from the earth. The illusion is perfect, and the 
onlookers are more taken up with gazing in 
wonder at the miraculous growth and discussing 
it one with another than with critically examining 
the seed and the sprouting plant.. If the conjuror 


Hindu Magic 


11 


wishes to show the roots sprouting from the lower 
end of the seed, he merely has to place these roots 
in the seed before the performance begins, and 
extract them in the course of his manipulation ot 
the seed, previously explained. The preparation 
of the seed is concealed by the fact that a duplicate 
seed is first exhibited to the spectators, and that 
seed is frequently examined by them. Before the 
seed is placed in the ground, however, the conjuror 
finds occasion to change it for another, prepared 
in the manner described. No one thinks of exam- 
ining the seed after the performance is concluded. 

To return, however, to the method of Working 
the trick. After the conjuror has shown the 
growth from the seed the first time, he covers the 
seed with a shawl and again places his hands be- 
neath the cloth and works out a little more of the 
mango ; then repeats his incantations and his tom- 
tom playing; finally showing the shoot a second 
time, when it is found to have grown a consid- 
erable amount in the interval. Amazement is cor- 
respondingly great! This performance is gone 
through several times, until the folded mango 
shoot is all worked out of the seed, the growing 
tree being covered each time by the shawl. When 
the shoot is all worked out of the seed, there is a 
fair-sized shrub standing before you. 

But there are some cases in which the mango- 
tree is reported to have grown to a height of 
several feet, and even to bear fruit; and the ex- 
planations offered would not explain such cases, 


12 


Hindu Magic 


it may be said. That is admitted ; and I shall now 
endeavor to explain how these more marvellous 
feats are performed. 

It must be remembered that Hindu fakirs 
seldom or never travel singly, but always in troups 
of threes and fours ; and, during the performance 
of one of the fakirs, the others assist him by 
passing him the articles he uses in his perform- 
ance — jars, water, earth, etc. Now, every time the 
conj uror moves the shawl from the growing plant, 
he tosses the shawl to his assistant, and shows his 
hands empty. When receiving the shawl back 
from his assistant, he also shows his hands empty ; 
then shakes out the shawl and shows both sides of 
it — showing, in this way, that nothing is concealed 
in the shawl, and that he introduces nothing under 
cover of the said shawl. To all appearances, 
nothing could be fairer. And, indeed, nothing is 
fairer at first; but the conjuror shakes the shawl 
less and less vigorously every time he places it 
over the mango-tree, until, towards the end (the 
seventh or eighth time, let us say) he hardly 
shakes it at all. The spectators, having seen it 
empty so many times, get into the habit of mind of 
thinking it is empty as a matter of course, and pay 
no attention to this part of the performance, after 
the first few times. Their thoughts and attention 
are centered upon the mango-tree and its growth. 
So, when the conj uror has worked out all the shoot 
from the seed, he must perforce introduce a fresh 
shoot of larger proportions; and he does this in 


Hindu Magic 


13 


the following manner : He passes on word to his 
assistant, by means of a secret sign, that he has 
reached the end of his present stock of “occult 
vitalizing influence’' — in other words, the mango 
shoot — and the assistant, in passing him back the 
shawl or cloth this time passes him back another 
cloth, which he has secretly exchanged for the 
original one — the one the conjuror began opera- 
tions with. This second cloth is double, and con- 
tains a very large mango shoot, more or less 
doubled up in the manner of the first shoot that 
was placed within the mango seed. A slit in the 
cloth enables the conjuror to extract the second 
shoot, and place it in the mound of earth, working 
this shoot out to its natural size with his fingers. 
When this large shpot is worked out to its full 
limit it is a very large tree, and the conjuror has 
only to remove the cloth to display it to his 
astonished onlookers. The cloth just employed is 
exchanged for the original while the eyes of the 
spectators are fascinated by the huge tree just 
exhibited to them, and when the trick is concluded 
this cloth is handed for examination; and, of 
course, no trickery is discovered in connection with 
it. The whole performance is a very pretty chap- 
ter in the psychology of deception. 

As to the cases in which, it is asserted, fruit 
grows upon the tree grown in this manner, I have 
no exact explanation of that fact, and I frankly 
confess my disbelief in its occurrence. I have 
diligently searched for any first-hand account of 


14 


Hindu Magic 


this fact, and have never found one; nor have I 
been enabled to meet anyone who could assert that 
he had seen it himself. It seems to rest on the 
same hazy foundation as the famous rope exploit, 
to be discussed later on. 

I may say that my father was an old Anglo- 
Indian, having lived ten years in Calcutta, but he 
never saw this finale to the trick, though he had 
many times seen the mango-tree trick performed, 
as described above. Nor had he ever met anyone, 
in all that time, who could state that he had 
witnessed the feat with his own eyes. It would 
seem, therefore, to be one of those “grand finale” 
flourishes which happened to be placed at the end 
of some magazine writer’s description of the 
mango-tree trick, in order ta make it appear as 
wonderful as possible — and gained wide credence 
on that account! 

There is then, so far as I have been enabled 
to discover, no first-hand account of fruit growing 
upon the mango-tree, that has been made to grow 
in the manner described; and until such evidence 
be forthcoming, I think we are entitled to say 
that it has never been done. However, there 
are certain considerations which might make us 
admit that such was the case — and yet the fruit 
might be obtained and placed there by fraudulent 
means ! One such method would be for the fruit 
to be introduced under the cloth, in the act of 
covering the mango-tree. The introduction of the 
fruit would be comparatively easy if some of 


Hindu Magic 


15 


the methods about to be explained were employed. 
At all events, this feat is no more difficult — 
certainly no more “miraculous” — than that per- 
formed by Kellar, in which roses are made to grow 
from empty flower pots — which roses are cut and 
distributed to the audience immediately. In this 
instance, two empty flower pots are shown (they 
may be examined, if desired) and filled with 
earth. Seeds are then sprinkled over the earth, 
and watered. A tube, open at both ends, is then 
shown empty, and examined by the audience. It 
is made of card-board, and everyone can see that 
it is quite unprepared. First one flower pot and 
then the other is then covered with this tube, and 
upon removing the tube, the seeds are found to 
have sprouted into full-grown bushes, fully 
eighteen inches in height, and covered with roses 
— at least fifty, on both plants. These roses are 
cut off immediately, and distributed among the 
audience, who testify to their genuine character. 
In a very similar illusion, on a small scale, a glass 
tumbler is filled with earth, and covered for a 
moment with a borrowed hat; upon removing 
which it is found that the seeds have blossomed 
into a plant about six inches high. If flowers 
can be made to grow under such circumstances, 
therefore, why not fruit upon mango-trees, grown 
under similar conditions, and before far less criti- 
cal audiences, who have already had their critical 
faculties blunted, moreover, by a succession of 
unexplained marvels? 


16 


Hindu Magic 


So far, I have described only one method of 
performing this mango-tree trick, and there are 
several other methods, which I shall now briefly 
enumerate — since the method above described is 
the one in general use, without a doubt. Another 
very good method, however, is the following, 
which was first made public, if I remember 
rightly, by Mr. Charles Bertram, the conjuror, to 
whom I am indebted for the secret, in this in- 
stance. 

In this case the conjuror makes his mound of 
earth as in the last instance, and has a prepared 
seed, which he exchanges for an examined seed at 
a convenient moment. The seed in this case is, 
however, prepared in a slightly different manner. 
It is split in two, and emptied of its contents. 
Then one end of it is wedged open by means of 
a small wedge of wood, and several small pieces 
of string are inserted into the other end, which, 
when hanging down from the seed, after being 
placed in the mud, exactly resemble roots. The 
seed is then fastened together, so that the two 
sides or halves will not fall apart. This seed the 
conjuror exchanges for the examined seed at 
some convenient moment, and this is the one 
placed in the ground. 

The juggler then hands round for inspection 
four bamboo sticks, and a piece of thin cloth. 
After the sticks are handed back to him, he places 
them in the ground, slanting towards a common 
centre, and ties the tops of the sticks together 


Hindu Magic 


17 


with a bit of string. Around these sticks is now 
stretched the cloth, thus making a sort of tent, 
about three feet in height and open at the back. 
The thinness of the cloth allows the interior to be 
dimly seen through it. The mound of earth, con- 
taining the seed, is within this tent, it having 
been built round it, in fact. The juggler suddenly 
appears to notice that the cloth is too thin, allow- 
ing the interior to be seen through it, and proceeds 
to cover the tent with a thicker piece of cloth. 
The conjuror in this case has a rag doll, which he 
uses very much as our Western magicians use 
their wands; and with this he proceeds to make 
passes over the tent, about the seed inside the 
tent, etc. He also waters the seed several times. 
After a time, the cloth is lifted up, and the spec- 
tators see that the tree is several inches in height. 
This performance is repeated several times, the 
passes, waterings, etc., being gone through each 
time, and generally a wait of several minutes is 
necessitated, during which waits the conjuror per- 
forms some other trick, such as the diving duck, 
the cups and balls, or the colored sands, all of 
which I shall explain later on. At the conclusion 
of the performance the j uggler removes the cloth, 
and the mango is found to have grown to a very 
respectable height. 

Now for the explanation : 

In the first place, the rag doll which the con- 
juror uses is hollow, and contains, folded up with- 
in it, a shoot of the mango-tree. In the course of 


18 


Hindu Magic 


making passes over the seed he extracts this 
shoot, and inserts it in the wedged-open end of 
the seed, where it remains until removed. The 
conjuror could now show this shoot, but it would 
lose in effectiveness to show it so soon, and for 
that reason he performs the minor tricks in the 
interval. When he returns to the tent and raises 
the cloth, this shoot is seen sprouting from the 
ground. The conjuror then lets the cloth fall to 
the ground again, and proceeds to make more 
passes over the seed. During these passes he man- 
ages to extract the small shoot from the seed, 
and replace it in the rag doll again. He then 
places a much larger shoot of the tree in the slit 
end of the mango seed. This larger branch was 
concealed in the second cloth which the conjuror 
placed around his tent, after discovering, appar- 
ently by accident, that the first cloth was so thin 
as to be semi-transparent. Within the folds of 
this second cloth was contained the mango-tree 
shoot of larger size. The tree is now grown to its 
full size and might be shown immediately, but, 
for effect, the conjuror again waits for several 
minutes before showing the growth to his on- 
lookers. Sometimes the tree is made to disappear 
altogether at the end of the performance, like the 
palace in the Arabian Nights. When this is the 
case, the conjuror has extracted the branch from 
the seed, and managed to conceal it under the 
carpet on which he was sitting. This is gathered 
up and removed at the close of the entertainment. 


Hindu Magic 


19 


There are, doubtless, other methods of per- 
forming this mango-tree trick. Kellar describes 
a method in which the performer concealed sev- 
eral shoots of the tree of various sizes within his 
sleeves, and produced them in turn, under cover 
of the cloth. As, however, Hindu fakirs seldom 
wear robes of the kind, I think we may say that 
this is a method seldom used. Some conjurors 
cover the growing seed with a basket; and when 
this is the case there is probably room for conceal- 
ment of shoots of the tree within secret compart- 
ments of the covering basket. 

THE BASKET TRICK. 

I now come to the “basket trick.” For this 
trick the juggler brings forward a large, oval 
basket, peculiarly constructed, being much larger 
at the bottom than at the top. Probably nearly 
every one is familiar with the shape of these 
baskets. The lid is perhaps 30 inches by 18 inches, 
and is oval, while the basket itself spreads out to 
about 4 feet 7 inches by 2 feet 6 inches at the 
bottom. 

Roughly, the basket may be said to resemble 
a huge egg, with an opening in one side. This is 
shown to the audience empty, and a man or boy 
is brought forward by the conjuror. This boy 
wears some conspicuous article of clothing — a 
scarlet turban or jacket. He is placed in the 
basket, into which he apparently just fits, occupy- 


20 


Hindu Magic 


ing the whole of it. The lid is placed upon his 
head, and a large blanket is thrown over it, com- 



pletely covering him and the basket. He is seen 
to sink down gradually until he finally disappears 
into the basket altogether, and the lid resumes its 
natural position over the opening. 

The performer now removes the cloth and 
proceeds to run the basket through and through 
with a sword he has in his hand. Every part of 
the basket is pierced in this manner, and it ap- 
pears as though the boy must be killed, even if he 
somehow managed to conceal himself within it. 
The juggler now replaces the blanket over the 
basket, places his hands under it, and removes the 
basket lid, throwing it to one side. He then 
places his hand into the basket itself and removes 
the turban and the jacket, which he throws to one 



Hindu Magic 


21 


side. The body has apparently disappeared! To 
make matters more certain, however, the juggler 
suddenly jumps right into the basket, stamps 
about with his bare feet, and ends by sitting in it 
himself. 

As it was formerly seen that the basket was 
only large enough to contain the boy, it seems im- 
possible that he can now be concealed in or about 
it. The conjuror then replaces the turban and the 
jacket in the basket, replaces the lid, and removes 
the blanket. Suddenly he darts forward, carrying 
with him the blanket, and snatches in the air with 
the latter as if catching a body, and goes back 
with much excitement and much jabbering to the 
basket, which he covers with the blanket; when 
suddenly something is seen to be moving under 
the cloth ! Immediately the lid of the basket goes 
up. In another moment the boy, clad in his jacket 
and turban, emerges from the basket, none the 
worse for his recent trying experience. 

I shall now explain this apparent marvel. 

The instant the boy is covered with the 
blanket he proceeds to divest himself of his jacket 
and turban, which he deposits in the bottom of the 
basket. He now gradually sinks into the basket 
until he is completely inside it and the lid is even 
with the top of the basket. Now comes the chief 
portion of the trick — the method of concealment 
of the boy within the basket — for he does not 
escape from within it, in the version of the trick 
now described, but remains within it throughout 


22 


Hindu Magic 


the performance. It will be remembered that the 
lower portion of the basket is much larger than 



the top portion. The boy within the basket 
manages, then, so to curl his body round the 
basket, eel-wise, that he is occupying the entire 
outer rim of the basket, so to speak, thus leaving 
the centre of the basket (the part of the basket 
directly under the opening) empty. When the 
juggler runs his sword through the basket he 
takes special pains to run it through this unoccu- 
pied space, almost exclusively; and, by the con- 
cealed boy wriggling from place to place within 
the basket, the juggler is enabled to run his sword 
through almost every portion of it in turn, and 
so give the appearance of its complete emptiness. 
It will now be seen that the juggler can place his 
hand inside the basket and remove the discarded 
jacket and turban at any time; also the lid, and 
to stamp and sit in the basket, since the space he 
occupies is that left ^occupied by the boy in the 


Hindu Magic 


23 


basket. So long as the blanket is over the opening 
in the basket, the boy can never be seen. The 
magician then replaces the jacket and the turban 
in the basket, and replaces the lid — all this before 
removing the blanket. As soon as the lid is again 
placed upon the basket the boy inside slips on his 
jacket and turban, and is ready to emerge from 
the basket as soon as the lid is withdrawn. The 
snatching in the air with the blanket is to distract 
the attention of the sftters away from the basket 
while the boy is donning his clothes — since some 
slight movement of the basket might be noticed 
and the spectators thus suspect that the boy is 
already inside. 

Sometimes the boy is seen to be outside the 
basket at the conclusion of the performance, and 
in some distant tree, etc. How is this to be 
explained? (1) There may be two boys, exactly 
alike, the first of which remains in the basket, 
while the second, dressed t : ke him, hails the on- 
lookers from the tree-top md comes down among 
them. During the instant that everyone’s atten- 
tion is directed to the boy in the tree and his 
approach, the original boy makes good his escape, 
aided by a confederate, who stands close by the 
basket, and in whose hands is a large blanket, 
partially covering the basket. The boy escapes 
behind this confederate’s body. (2) There is also 
a method of causing the boy to disappear and 
appear in a tree-top, without employing any 
duplicate boy or confederate. In this case, the 


24 


Hindu Magic 


basket is placed within a few feet of some 
convenient wall or hiding place, and the trick is 
performed on that spot. Matters proceed very 
much as before until the time comes for causing 
the boy to vanish and re-appear in the tree. When 
this time comes the juggler brings forward four 
poles, four or five feet in height, and these are 
stuck in the ground around the basket, and the 
conjuror has two or three assistants stationed 
on each side of the basket, assisting him, and 
standing a few feet from the basket. In this case 
the boy wraps up his turban and jacket in a cloth, 
while in the basket, and this the conjuror manages 
to get hold of and pass out to one of his assistants 
earlier in the trick, while the basket is being con- 
stantly covered and uncovered. 

Presently the conjurors begin to quarrel 
among themselves, and at the same time others 
begin to play upon tom-toms, etc., making an 
awful noise and distracting the attention of the 
spectators away from the basket containing the 
boy. Meanwhile the conjuror has procured a 
large piece of cloth, and has attached one end of 
this strip to one of the poles — one of those nearest 
the onlookers. He then proceeds to attach it to 
each of the other four in turn, thus enclosing the 
basket in a roofless tent, the front side — the side 
nearest the audience — being enclosed last. At 
least, so it appears. What has really happened, 
however is this. At the moment when the noise 
was created, and the conjuror’s assistants began 


Hindu Magic 


25 


quarreling among themselves, and the spectators’ 
possible, the conjuror crosses in front of the 
attention was accordingly distracted as much as 
basket for a moment, as though to ascertain the 
cause of the disturbance, and for an instant con- 
ceals the basket from view. In that instant the 
boy leaps from the basket, darts between the legs 
of one of the assistant conjurors, and is lost be- 
hind them before the cloth is withdrawn that had 
concealed his escape. It has taken only a second 
or two, and the interval is so short no one remarks 
upon it — especially as they were distracted by 
the noise, etc., at that instant. The careful en- 
closure of the basket subsequently also tends to 
convey the impression that the boy is still within 
it. But he has now escaped; he has turned the 
corner, and is hidden from the view of the spec- 
tators. He carries with him the cloth containing 
his jacket and turban, which he proceeds to don. 
Then, climbing a near-by tree, he is ready to cry 
out to the spectators whenever he receives the 
signal from the conjuror to do so. 

Another method of escape is the following: 
The conjuror wears a thick strap under his loin 
cloth. The boy, under cover of the enveloping 
blanket, reaches up and grasps this strap, and by 
its aid he draws himself from the basket, and 
round, behind the juggler. He is hidden for the 
moment by the conjuror’s body and the blanket, 
which the juggler has removed from the basket. 


26 


Hindu Magic 


The boy slips away into the crowd, through con- 
federates, as in the manner last described. 

THE DRY-SANDS TRICK. 

Perhaps one of the best known tricks per- 
formed by the Hindu fakirs, after the two just 
enumerated, is the “dry-sands trick.” In this 
case, the j uggler brings forward a little pail, some 
eight or nine inches high, and perhaps six inches 
across the top. This the conjuror proceeds to 
fill with water. There is no trick about the pail, 
and the water is ordinary water, which may be 
supplied from any source. The conjuror then 
extracts a handful of dry sand from a bag and 
blows it hither and thither, showing it to be ex- 
ceedingly dry. A handful of this sand is then 
carefully deposited in the bottom of the pail, in 
the water, and everyone can see it, resting peace- 
fully at the bottom of the pail. The conjuror then 
carefully washes and wipes his hands, and shows 
them perfectly clean and empty. Then, placing 
one hand in the water, he extracts from the pail 
a handful of the sand, and shows it to be just as 
dry as when it was placed in the pail. Blowing 
sharply into his hand, the sand flies in every di- 
rection, showing it to be still perfectly dry. 

This is a very ingenious trick, and could 
never be discovered unless its secret were ex- 
plained. There is no trick about the pail or water, 
as stated : it all consists in the preparation of the 


Hindu Magic 


27 


sand. In order to prepare this sand for the ex- 
periment, the juggler procures some fine, clean, 
sharp sand, gathered from the sea-shore prefer- 
ably. This is washed carefully a number of times 
in hot water, so as to free it from adhering clay 
or soil of any sort. It is then carefully dried in 
the sun for several days. 

About two quarts of this sand is then placed 
in a clean frying pan, and a lump of fresh lard the 
size of a walnut is placed into the pan with it. It 
is now thoroughly cooked over a hot fire until all 
the lard is burned away — the result being that 
every little grain of sand is thoroughly covered 
with a slight coating of grease, which is invisible 
to the sight and touch, and at the same time this 
renders the sand impervious to water. When the 
little handful of sand is placed in the bottom of 
the bucket, to be shortly afterwards brought out, 
it is squeezed tightly together into a little lump, 
the grease making it adhere. Thus, when it is 
brought out it is nearly or quite as dry as when 
placed within the pail. Brick dust is sometimes 
treated in a similar manner. 

THE COLOURED-SANDS TRICK. 

This is another trick very popular with 
Indian jugglers, known as the “coloured sands 
trick.” The conjuror eats a small quantity of 
sand or sugar, apparently swallowing it. He then 
eats sugar coloured variously — black, red, yellow, 


28 


Hindu Magic 


green and blue, as well as the usual white sugar. 
These are chewed and swallowed by the conjuror 
each in turn. The conjuror then asks his audience 
to select whichever colour they prefer of those 
swallowed, and, upon the choice being made, the \ 
conjuror immediately blows from his mouth the 
coloured sugar requested. This is repeated until 
all the colours have been called for in turn. Some- 
times the juggler dissolves all the coloured sugars 
in water and drinks the compound. Sometimes, 
again, chalks are used instead of sugar ; but these 
are merely variations of the same trick, and are 
worked on the same principle exactly. 

For this trick, the conjuror has secretly 
prepared beforehand six small packages or cap- 
sules, each one containing one of the coloured 
sands. These are enclosed in thin, parchment-like 
skin, and are secreted in the conjuror’s mouth, 
three in each cheek, in a pre-arranged order. The 
conjuror can easily reach any one of these packets 
with his tongue, bring it to the front of the mouth, 
break the skin by pressing it against his teeth, and 
blow the sand, sugar or chalk out in a perfectly 
dry condition. This is repeated until all six 
have been exhausted, when the trick is said to be 
concluded. If some skeptical investigator wishes 
to examine the juggler’s mouth, he merely swal- 
lows the skins. The sugars or chalks were also 
swallowed in the first place. Hindu jugglers will 
frequently swallow far more disagreeable things 
than skins for the sake of a few rupees, 


Hindu Magic 


29 


THE DIVING DUCK. 


There is a very simple, and yet a very puz- 
zling, little trick known as the “diving duck.” 
The juggler places a shallow bowl upon the 
ground, which he proceeds to fill with water. 
When this is done the conjuror places a miniature 
artificial duck in the water, then retires from the 
bowl about two feet, and begins to play upon his 
tom-tom, etc. Soon the duck is seen to move, and 
very soon it dives in a very natural manner. 
Whenever the hand of one of the onlookers ap- 
proaches the duck it dives out of sight, reappear- 
ing as soon as the hand recedes. Finally, the 
duck is taken out of the water, and immediately 
handed for examination, when it is found to be 
perfectly free from trickery or preparation of 
any sort. The bowl is also emptied of its water 
and again shown to the onlookers. 



The secret in this case is, again, simplicity 
itself. In the bottom of the shallow pail or pot 


30 


Hindu Magic 


there is a miniature hole bored, and through this 
is passed a thread or hair. To the inner end of 
this hair is attached a small dab of wax. The 
other end extends along the ground, and the trick 
is always performed on soil the colour of which 
will make the hair invisible. The duck is fastened 
to the inner end of the hair by means of the bit 
of wax ; and it can readily be seen that, when the 
pail is filled with water, the duck will dive beau- 
tifully every time the hair is pulled by the con- 
juror, and will rise to the surface when this pres- 
sure is released. This is the complete secret of 
the diving duck. In order to conceal the fact that 
the pot leaks, the conjuror first sprinkles some 
water on the ground; or fills the bowl so full (ap- 
parently by accident) that it overflows. This 
conceals the fact that water is gradually running 
away . through the small hole in the bottom of the 
pail. 


THE JUMPING EGG. 

In another trick sometimes exhibited the 
reverse method may be said to be employed — 
since the egg or small rabbit employed jumps out 
of the water, at the word of command, and lands 
on the ground, right outside the pail. No thread 
or hair is used in this case, however, as might be 
supposed, and onlookers sometimes come right 
up to the pail and stand over it while the rabbit 
makes his marvellous leap. The juggler may be 


Hindu Magic 


31 


any distance from the pail at the time, and even 
held by onlookers to prevent any action on his 
part. 



The conjurer begins by filling the little pail 
with water. After he has done this he pours into 
the water some coloured sand, and stirs it up with 
a stick, when the sand rises to the top of the 
water, forming a sort of curtain, and preventing 
anyone from seeing what is within the pail. 
In the act of stirring the water, pouring in the 
sand, etc., the juggler has secretly introduced into 
the pail a thin but broad spring, bent over so as 
to form an almost complete circle. The two 
ends of the spring are kept apart by means of 


32 


Hindu Magic 


a piece of sugar, so that, when this sugar melts, 
the spring will be released and will spring open 
with a sudden jerk. It is upon this spring that 
the egg or little rabbit is placed. The juggler 
goes through various incantations, playing the 
tom-tom, etc., until the sugar melts, when the 
spring will fly uncoiled, and the little rabbit will 
be ejected from the water precipitously. If the 
pail is emptied later on, the juggler simply turns 
the pail upside down, thus allowing the water to 
escape, and retaining the spring by means of 
his finger. 

• THE BEANS AND SCORPION TRICK. 

The trick that is sometimes seen of changing 
three beans into a scorpion or a snake is sim- 
plicity itself — is so simple, in fact, as to be seldom 
exhibited. It is sometimes seen, however. The 
juggler has a box, containing two compartments. 
In the upper one the beans are kept, while the 
lower one contains the scorpion or the little snake. 
These compartments are separate, and either can 
be opened at will. The conjuror puts the three 
beans into the hand of one of the audience and 
tells him to hold them. He then asks him to open 
his hand again to see if they are still there. The 
conjuror takes them out of this person's hand, 
exhibits them to the audience, and puts them back 
in the box. He asks the spectator to again hold 
his hand out; and, when he has done so, the 


Hindu Magic 


33 


conjuror deftly opens the lower box and allows 
the snake or scorpion to fall into his hand. 
Naturally this person jumps back, and, in the 
excitement, the conjuror has ample opportunity 
to exchange the box used for another, without 
preparation. 

THE BASKET AND BIRDS TRICK. 

Another trick sometimes seen is the follow- 
ing. The conjuror exhibits a basket, some 18 
inches in diameter and 14 inches high. A stone 
is placed under the basket, which is then inverted 
over it. Soon the basket is lifted, and a snake 
or scorpion is found beneath it, while the stone has 
disappeared. The snake is thrown into a bag 
which the conjuror carries with him, and tb^ 



basket replaced on the ground. After some man- 
ipulation the basket is again raised, and this time 


34 


Hindu Magic 


some ten or fifteen little birds walk out from 
beneath it. Apparently nothing could be more 
extraordinary ! 

And yet the explanation is simplicity itself. 
In the act of inverting the basket the first time 
the conjuror introduced the snake or scorpion 
and removed the stone — very much in the same 
way as Western conjurors extract and replace 
the cork balls in the cups-and-balls trick. The 
little birds are all contained in a black cloth bag; 
and are introduced into the basket when every- 
one’s attention is called to the snake or scorpion, 
left on the ground, after the basket is raised the 
first time. The conjuror introduces his hands 
beneath the basket and opens the cloth bag ; when 
the little birds are free to make their escape. 
The bag can be disposed of at any convenient 
moment. 

THE BALL OF COTTON TRICK. 

Mr. Charles Bertram, writing in Mahatma 
(a conjuror’s magazine) for February, 1900, 
said : 

“The most startling trick I ever saw ,was 
done by a man who was performing some of the 
little tricks while the mango-tree was growing. 
He took a little ball of rough cotton, about the 
size of a walnut, and threw the ball to a woman 
who formed one of the party of those who were 
assisting him. The jerk unravelled about two 


Hindu Magic 


35 


yards, and she broke the end off and kept the ball. 
The conjuror placed the end which he held into 
his mouth, and by a deep breath the cotton flew 
into his mouth and he appeared to chew it. Then 
he borrowed a penknife from me, and with a big 
blade made as though he would stab himself in the 
throat, the woman preventing him with some 
show of excitement; but presently, turning her 
back, the man seized the opportunity to plunge 
the knife into his stomach, and that he did very 
well. He then put his hand under the loose linen 
shirt he was wearing and began to draw out the 
piece of cotton. 



“When he had drawn out nearly as much as 
the length of the piece which had been broken 


36 


Hindu Magic 


off, he lifted his shirt slightly and showed the end 
of the cotton apparently embedded in the skin. 
He then took the knife and moved it upward 
against the skin as if he were pressing out the 
last bit of thread, which was tinged with red, as 
if with blood. 

“This was really an admirably executel little 
trick, although by no means difficult. The suck- 
ing in of the cotton is skilful, but with a very 
little practice I was able to do the same thing, and 
so can anyone else, the only precaution to be taken 
being to prevent the end coming into contact with 
the back of the throat, for if it did it would bring 
on an attack of coughing. 

“Of course the chewing of the cotton is 
merely a method of secreting it, and another 
piece of cotton of similar length is rolled up pre- 
viously and put in its place with the end coloured 
with some paint. A little brown material is put 
over the skin with a scrap of cotton, perhaps a 
quarter of an inch attached to it, so that it really 
looks as though it were sticking up out of the skin, 
and the upward movement of the knife scrapes 
this off, and it can easily be gotten away at a con- 
venient time. This is hardly a trick for an 
English drawing-room.” 

Frequently we see an Indian juggler remove 
his turban, double it, cut it into two pieces, and 
finally join them together again. I think it will 
be a sufficient explanation if I state that this feat 
is performed precisely in the same manner as the 


Hindu Magic 


37 


familiar string trick — in which a piece of string, 
cut in halves is restored to its original condition. 
As every schoolboy knows this trick, I shall not 
dwell upon it here. 

THE BRASS BOWL TRICK. 

Mr. S. S. Baldwin describes a very ingenious 
trick he once saw performed.* A juggler brought 
forward a brass bowl, which he showed empty. 
He filled this with cold water, placing a little 
piece of ice in the water, to show it was really 
cold. He then covered the bowl for a few moments 
with a borrowed handkerchief, made passes over 
the bowl, played on his tom-tom, etc. Soon he 
removed the handkerchief, and the water was 
found to be scalding hot, as was verified by plac- 
ing the fingers in the water. 

In this case the bowl was of a peculiar con- 
struction. The sides of the bowl were double; 
and so also was the foot upon which it stood; 
When brought forward the space between the two 
sides of the vessel was filled with the boiling 
water, while the lower space was empty. While 
covering the bowl with the handkerchief the 
j uggler found occasion to scratch off a wax pellet, 
covering an air-hole, this allowing the cold water 
to run down into the empty space in the foot of 
the bowl. By scratching off a second wax pellet 
on the side of the bowl the hot water is made to 

* Secrets of Mahatma Land Explained, pp. 45-46. 


38 


Hindu Magic 


run into the body of the bowl until it finds its own 
level. It is difficult to explain this on paper, but 
the principle upon which it rests is well known 
to Western conjurors, and is the basis of several 
good illusions performed by them. 

There are several minor tricks that I should 
like to consider, but cannot for lack of space. 
Thus, M. Jacolliot states that he saw a small stick, 
placed upon the top of a vessel of water, move in 
all directions, and finally sink to the bottom of 
the vessel at the command of the fakir. He sug- 
gests that “the fakir, upon charging the small 
piece of wood with fluid, might perhaps have 
increased its weight so as to make it heavier than 
water.”* Personally I should be inclined to think 
that the piece of wood was manipulated by means 
of a hair, somewhat after the manner of the 
“diving duck,” described above. Baldwin saw a 
somewhat similar trick in Zululand. In this case 
the conjuror threw a branch of wood upon the 
surface of the river, which promptly proceeded 
to swim upstream! He afterwards discovered 
that, in this case, the trick was effected by means 
of long black threads, in the hands of hidden 
assistants. 


SNAKE-CHARMING. 

I now pass on to consider, very briefly, the 
feats of snake-charming that are so frequently ex- 
hibited. I do not doubt that much — perhaps the 

* Occult Science in India, p. 236. 


Hindu Magic 


39 


majority — of that which is exhibited by snake 
charmers is genuine, with one exception ; the fangs 
of the serpent are invariably extracted. 

Hindus are exceedingly ingenious in extract- 
ing fangs, stings, etc., and I have heard from 
many independent sources that snakes are never 
exhibited in public unless their fangs are first 
extracted. It may interest the reader to learn 
that my sister, when a little girl, took a great 
liking to bees, and desired to play with them. 
My father and mother were in Calcutta at the 
time, and bees were plentiful. Accordingly, my 
father commissioned one of the servants to extract 
the stings from a number of bees, which he did 
with great skill, and apparently with no lasting 
injury to the bee. My sister then had a whole 
room full of bees to play with, while quite free 
from danger herself. I mention this to show 
how ingenious Hindus are in handling reptiles 
and insects of the sort, thus proving that it would 
be quite possible for them to extract the fangs 
from any serpent. The fangs once extracted, and 
the snakes fed upon milk, and perhaps more or 
less drugged and charmed by the music, we can 
very readily see that it would be no very difficult 
feat for the snake charmer to handle them in any 
manner desired. 

It is a well-known fact that snakes and many 
other animals may be hypnotised and rendered 
more or less cataleptic by means of passes and 
various manipulations. Sextus, in his Hypnotism, 


40 


Hindu Magic 


devotes many pages to this subject. It is probable 
that, when a snake is stiffened out to its fullest 
extent, and remains stiff, it cannot be distin- 
guished from a stick at a first casual glance. 
Perhaps this may bear some resemblance to the 
priests who performed before Pharaoh, “changing 
their rods to serpents” before his eyes. At all 
events, I quote the following passage, which 
seems to bear a distinct resemblance to that inci- 
dent, and has the advantage of being “recorded 
at first hand,” and is by no means so “remote” 
as the other tale ! It runs as follows : 

“Sitting one morning on the verandah, an 
aged magician approached and asked permission 
to perform some of his tricks. As I was in a 
humor to be amused, I told him to go ahead. He 
asked me to loan him the walking-stick which I 
carried. He waved this over his head two or 
three times and exclaimed: ‘No good; too big; 
can't do,' and handed the stick back to me, which, 
as I grasped it, changed into a loathsome, wrig- 
gling snake in my hand. Of course, I immedi- 
ately dropped it. The magician smiled, picked 
up the snake by the middle, whirled it around in 
the air, and handed it back to me. As I refused 
to take it, he said, ‘All right, no bite,' and behold 
it was my stick.”* 

I think the similarity of narrative should at 
least prove suggestive and interesting. 


* Secrets of Mahatma Land Explained, p. 49. 


Hindu Magic 41 

VOLUNTARY INTERMENT. 

Let us now turn to a consideration of those 
feats of “voluntary interment” so often re- 
ferred to. 

Take, e. g., the famous case of the Fakir of 
Lahore, who, at the instance of Runjeet Singh, 
and under the supervision of Sir Claude Wade, 
was interred in a vault for a period of six weeks. 
Doubtless the details are familiar to most of my 
readers. The fakir’s ears and nostrils were filled 
with wax, and he was then placed in a bag, then 
deposited in a wooden box which was securely 
locked, and the box was deposited in a brick vault 
which was carefully plastered up with mortar 
and sealed with the Rajah’s seal. A guard of 
British soldiers was then detailed to watch the 
vault day and night. At the end of the prescribed 
time the vault was opened in the presence of Sir 
Claude and Runjeet Singh, and the fakir was 
restored to consciousness. 

Now, though I shall not say that a feat of 
this kind is impossible, far better evidence will 
have to be forthcoming than an account such as 
the above, in order to gain credence. How was 
the bag tied in which the fakir was placed? Who 
made the box? What guarantee have we that 
there was no outlet from the vault than by means 
of the door? In short, there are so many methods 
of escape that such a badly recorded account as 
the above should carry no weight with us what- 


42 


Hindu Magic 


ever. What makes me skeptical of such accounts 
is the fact that, in one instance of which I know 
the details, it was discovered that a fakir, after 
being buried in a grave several feet beneath the 
ground, managed to make good his escape by 
means of a tunnel especially built, leading into a 
hollow tree, through which the fakir escaped 
under cover of the darkness. In this case, the 
grave was well sealed, and it was certain that the 
fakir, did not escape in that manner. He was 
however, discovered that night in the hut of a 
relative of his, quietly sleeping. Investigation 
showed that the grave had been dug in a certain 
spot, and that there was only a thin wall of earth 
between the end of the coffin, which hinged 
inwards, and the other tunnel, which communi- 
cated with a previously prepared tunnel, leading 
to the hollow, tree, and so to air and freedom. 
Every interment was made in the same spot, and 
Europeans were being constantly taken in by the 
same trick. In the face of this piece of evidence 
I may be excused for being somewhat skeptical 
as to genuine feats of the kind. 

And when we turn for analogy to cases of 
induced hypnotic trance, lasting over a number of 
days, we find that here, too, there is much fraud — 
much more than the public supposes — though I 
must not be understood as saying that trances of 
this character are not well authenticated. But I 
do assert that in the majority of public tests, in 
which the “professor” keeps his subject asleep 


Hindu Magic 


43 


for seven days, etc., much fraud enters into the 
case. I do not say that it is all fraud from begin- 
ning to end, but there is an element of fraud in 
the case, which it might be as well to make plain 
in this place. The average method of procedure 
would be about as follows: 

A good somnambule is selected who is in good 
physical health, and he is prepared by giving him 
a good dose of castor oil or rhubarb the day before 
the test. But little must be given the subject to 
eat or drink for a few hours before he is put to 
sleep. He is hypnotized several times daily before 
the test and suggestions made that he will not 
wake, that he cannot wake until permission is 
given him to do so, etc. He is then put to sleep 
carefully, and forcible suggestions given — that he 
cannot awaken, etc. The subject is then placed in 
his coffin, plenty of fresh air being allowed to 
get to him, and he is covered with mosquito net- 
ting if the test is in the summer-time, and flies, 
mosquitoes, etc., are numerous. The subject is 
turned over from side to side frequently, espe- 
cially after the second day, and repeated sugges- 
tions are given him to sleep, that he cannot wake, 
and so forth. The subject will not be in an 
equally deep sleep all the time. Some of the time 
he will be actually asleep, of course, but he will 
be very near to waking much of the time, after 
the first two or three days, and must be kept 
asleep by constant suggestion. When the night 
comes on and it gets cold and there are fewer 


44 


Hindu Magic 


persons watching, the performer makes this the 
excuse for covering the subject with a blanket. 
Under this blanket is concealed a rubber bottle 
containing water, and a sandwich or two are 
dropped in the coffin at the same time. These the 
subject invariably eats. I am not asserting this 
here for any other purpose than to show that these 
so-called “seven-day sleeps” bear no real resemb- 
lance to the cases in which men have been interred 
for days and weeks at a time, and throw the other 
cases into stronger relief in consequence. In view 
of the facts above noted, and of the fraud that is 
known to exist in some of these cases, I think we 
are entitled to ask for a considerable amount of 
first-hand evidence before we need consider seri- 
ously these cases of long-continued interment. 

THE ROPE TRICK. 

There remains for our consideration only one 
other well-known feat performed by Hindu fakirs 
or yogis, and that is the famous “rope exploit,” 
before referred to. I looked up the evidence for 
this performance with great care when writing 
my Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism, con- 
trasting the evidence for hallucination in this and 
kindred tests with certain of the seances with 
D. D. Home, to ascertain if there were any simi- 
larity between the two. I think that I cannot do 
better than to quote the case as therein given. I 
accordingly quote from pp. 389-93 of that book. 


Hindu Magic 


45 


After referring to Dr. Hodgson’s article in 
Proceedings , S.P.R., Vol. IX., pp. 354-66, the 
account goes on : 

“But the most interesting part of Dr. Hodg- 
son’s paper is his consideration of the alleged 
feats of levitation and the famous rope-climbing 
exploit, both of which are probably too well known 
to my readers to need describing here. The nature 
of the former of these phenomena is explained by 
its title ; the second is the famous feat in which a 
rope is thrown into the air by the performer, 
where it stays — suspended by some unknown 
power — and gradually stiffens, allowing a small 
boy, the fakir’s assistant, to climb up it, and 
finally disappear in the clouds. Soon, the legs 
and arms of the boy are seen to fall to the ground, 
then the head, and finally the trunk falls to earth, 
all before the astonished and horrified gaze of the 
onlookers! These pieces gradually join them- 
selves together, and re-form the boy’s body, whole 
as it was at first, and the boy goes on his way 
rejoicing! 

“Of the levitation I shall not speak now, 
beyond stating that it is recorded in several of the 
books mentioned, as previously stated. The value 
of the testimony will be variously estimated by 
individuals, partly according to their preconceived 
ideas of the limits A the possible, and partly 
according to thei v familiarity with the evidence 
that has been r .iected in various works on the 
subject. As I have considered this question of 


46 


Hindu Magic 


levitation elsewhere I shall dismiss it for the time 
being, and turn to the feat that most particularly 
interests us in relation to this question of halluci- 
nation and its possibilities. 

“It need hardly be pointed out, I believe, that 
if this feat were ever witnessed by Europeans at 
all (i. e. y if the whole thing is not a myth), and 
certain individuals imagined they actually wit- 
nessed it, the effect was the result of an halluci- 
nation, and not the result of seeing what actually 
took place. It need scarcely be said that the 
nature of the trick, if trick it is (the suspension of 
the rope by some unknown power, the ascent of 
the boy into the clouds, the tumbling down to earth 
of the separate members, and, finally the joining 
together of these into a live form again), would 
forbid any such performance taking place in 
reality — except on the stage, e. g., when appro- 
priate apparatus can be arranged to perform this 
feat — an illusion of this sort being mentioned in 
Mahatma, Vol. III., No. 5, November, 1899. If 
such a performance were even witnessed, there- 
fore, it must have been the result of some sort of 
hallucination, possibly hypnotic, which the on- 
looker was experiencing at the time. The ques- 
tion, therefore, narrows itself down to this: was 
the onlooker hallucinated? 

“Several reported instances seemed to show 
conclusively that such vms the case, it being stated 
that (particularly in one case which the writer 
quoted from his own experience) the photographic 


Hindu Magic 


47 


plate of a camera revealed that nothing of the sort 
had transpired. The person witnessing the per- 
formance had actually seen it, as described, while 
the photographic plate, which cannot be hypno- 
tised and so share in the hallucination supposedly 
induced, showed that the performance had not 
taken place at all. Such was the story, at least, 
which reached a very large portion of the reading 
public — so large, indeed, that this is the explana- 
tion that is given of this illusion whenever 
it is mentioned, as if it were a fact past all 
questioning ! 

“Dr. Hodgson, in criticising these articles, 
pointed out that the illustrations reproduced to 
back up the story (supposedly photographs) were 
in reality, woodcuts, and consequently were not 
what they purported to be at all, and served to 
throw a grave suspicion on the story in toto. 
Later, it came to light that this story was con- 
cocted by its author, and had no basis in fact 
whatever.* Dr. Hodgson actually doubted if the 
phenomenon had ever been witnessed at all, or 
even if any person thought he had witnessed it, 
rather inclining to the belief that these stories 
were invariably made up 'out of whole cloth,’ and 
had no real basis in fact, even that the sitters were 
hallucinated, as it is stated they were. Several 
cases have ‘lately come to light, however, particu- 
larly a recent and well recorded one,f which would 

* Journal S. P. R., Vol. v., pp. 84-86; 195. 
f Journal S. P. R., Vol. xii., pp. 30-31. 


48 


Hindu Magic 


seem to show that the stories have at least some 
basis in truth. I shall accordingly consider the 
cases as if they actually existed, merely pointing 
out that such performances are extremely rare, 
even if they exist at all. Dr. Hodgson never wit- 
nessed the illusion, nor could he find anyone who 
had a first-hand account to offer him. ‘Even 
Colonel Olcott,’ says Dr. Hodgson, ‘a faithful 
servant of Mme. Blavatsky . . . told me, 

after several years’ residence in India, he had 
never witnessed the rope-climbing performance.’* 
At the same time Dr. Hodgson was willing to 
admit that the story might have originated 
because of some hypnotically induced hallucina- 
tion, akin to those induced by our Western hyp- 
notists. The evidence, as it stands, is certainly 
inconclusive, in any case, and though there is a 
certain analogy between these performances and 
those of D. D. Home, e. g., the inaccuracy in 
recording, the doubt surrounding these phe- 
nomena can be said to offer no direct support to 
the theory of hallucination in Home’s case, which 
must stand or fall on its own merits. It can derive 
no real support from the performances of Oriental 
conjurors. 

“On the subject of Oriental magic generally 
I cannot do better than to conclude this summary 

* Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. ix., p. 362. I do not at all agree 
with Mr. J. N. Maskelyne’s “Explanation” of this feat, how- 
ever (see his pamphlet “The Fraud of Theosophy Exposed, 
and the Miraculous Rope Trick of the Indian Jugglers Ex- 
plained” pp. 23-24). 


Hindu Magic 


49 


in the words of Dr. Hodgson, to be found in the 
article so frequently referred to already. In 
summing up the evidence for the supernormal in 
these performances, he says : 

“ ‘I conclude, therefore, that, in spite of the 
strong assertions of a distinguished conjuror, we 
have before, us no real evidence to the manifesta- 
tion by Indian jugglers or fakirs of any marvels 
beyond the power of trickery to produce. . . . 

The conjuror’s mere assertion that certain mar- 
vels are not explicable by trickery is worth just as 
much as the savant’s mere assertion that they 
must he so explicable — just as much, and no 
more.’ ” 

From all that has been said, I think we shall 
be justified in concluding that the vast majority 
of feats performed by the Hindu fakirs present no 
evidence whatever of the supernormal, but are, 
on the contrary, clearly due and traceable to 
trickery. It is highly probable that every one of 
their well-known tricks are such only, and involve 
no occult powers, nor do they warrant our belief 
in the operation of any forces “other than those 
known to physical science.” 

Are we to conclude, therefore, that nothing 
is to be gained by a study of the East and its 
phenomena? I think we should scarcely be 
justified in doing that, since there seem to be 
many phenomena witnessed there that are well 
worthy of serious consideration. The snake 
charming is one of these; the cases of prolonged 


50 


Hindu Magic 


trance probably present many interesting phe- 
nomena, from any point of view; the rope exploit 
has at least its psychological interest; and there 
are many cases of levitation reported, which are 
worthy of serious consideration. “Baron See- 
man,” a conjuror, describes in his book, Around 
the World with a Magician and a Juggler (pp. 
54-6), a case of levitation; and various other 
conjurors have described the same thing. M. 
Jacolliot, in his Occult Science in India, before 
referred to, has recorded a number of most inter- 
esting experiences with a Hindu fakir. He 
obtained raps, telekinetic phenomena, independent 
writing, levitations, materialisations, playing 
upon an accordion, etc. Strange to say it was 
through the instrumentality of the very same 
fakir that Seeman obtained his experiences in 
levitation (Covindasamy) . 

And it will be noticed further that all these 
phenomena — so different from the usual tricks of 
the Hindu fakir — hear a close resemblance to 
the mediumistic phenomena witnessed in our 
countries. 

That is a most striking fact, and at once 
places them on a different level from most of 
the tricks exhibited by Hindu fakirs, which are 
certainly tricks and nothing more. There may 
be genuine mediums among the Hindus; but the 
phenomena witnessed in such cases are of a very 
different type from those usually observed. This 
fact at once tends to discredit the ordinary tricks 


Hindu Magic 


51 


exhibited, and strengthens the evidence for the 
phenomena that so closely resemble the occur- 
rences witnessed in the presence of occidental 
mediums. It shows us, at all events, that some, 
and perhaps much, good may come from a close 
study of these wonder workers ; and that, in 
investigating them, “we must not, ,, as Mr. 
Frank Podmore expressed it, “for the second time 
throw away the baby with the water from 
the bath.” 















